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Specularity in NeRFs: a comparative study of Ref-NeRF and NRFF
No full textNeural Radiance Fields (NeRF) have emerged as a leading technology for 3D digitization, especially for their high accuracy and intricate detailing. Despite their advancements, early NeRF models struggle to handle reflections on specular surfaces effectively. To address this, alternative approaches such as Ref-NeRF and NRFF were proposed to improve fidelity in representing this physical phenomenon. This study compares these two models, providing an analysis of their effectiveness and limitations in dealing with complex specularities. We demonstrate that both methods struggle with inter-reflections and tend to model anisotropic specularities by altering the predicted surface normals
L'ensenyament de les humanitats a la universitat
No full textEn aquest article es reflexiona des de diferents perspectives sobre l'ensenyament de les anomenades humanitats en l'àmbit universitari. En primer lloc, es planteja la pertinença tant de la denominació dels estudis com de la seva oferta acadèmica. En segon lloc, es tracta sobretot de la seva vinculació amb els estudis literaris, entesos aquests en un sentit ample i innovador. En tercer lloc, es reivindica la innovació tecnològica en el treball acadèmic de les humanitats i, finalment, en quart lloc, es fa una reflexió sobre la necessitat d'un grau d'humanitats certament interdisciplinari i connectat amb les necessitats formatives de la societat
El problema de la nul·litat del planejament urbanístic: possibles solucions a partir de l'anàlisi de la seva naturalesa jurídica i règim d'invalidesa
No full textTreball de Fi de Grau en Dret. Curs 2024-2025Tutor: Oriol Mir PuigpelatAquest treball té per objecte l’anàlisi de les problemàtiques jurídiques amb relació a l’anul·lació dels instruments d’ordenació territorial i urbanística, que en els darrers anys han generat una forta reacció doctrinal. La doctrina considera desproporcionats els resultats de la seva declaració de nul·litat, recolzats en la consideració dels instruments de planejament com a disposicions de caràcter general i la conseqüent aplicació del seu règim d’invalidesa. Es reflexiona, partint d’aquest punt, sobre si les desproporcions generades són tals i si es podrien evitar mitjançant la reconsideració de la naturalesa dels instruments de planejament o si, per contra, el problema radica en la configuració, interpretació o aplicació del règim d’invalidesa de les disposicions generals. Per a fer-ho, s’analitzen i contraposen els diversos pronunciaments doctrinals i jurisprudencials al respecte, tenint en compte les característiques de l’activitat planificadora i les iniciatives legislatives que han intentat posar fi al problema
Catalunya a finals del segle XVIII a partir de les respostes als qüestionaris de Francisco de Zamora
No full textA finals del segle XVIII, el viatger i funcionari borbònic Francisco de Zamora va fer arribar als pobles i llogarets catalans uns interrogatoris formats per 146 o 183 preguntes (segons el cas) referides, pràcticament, a tots els àmbits: qüestions polítiques, administratives, naturals, econòmiques, socials, culturals... Aquesta tesi doctoral és un estudi que extreu la informació de totes les respostes que s’han localitzat a dia d’avui –estiguin o no publicades– i n'analitza el contingut. S’ha realitzat des d’una mirada global al conjunt del territori català, però aportant informacions precises i concretes d’àmbit local per tal de contribuir a configurar la història social i econòmica de la Catalunya del 1790.A finales del siglo XVIII, el viajero y funcionario borbónico Francisco de Zamora envió a los pueblos y aldeas de Cataluña unos interrogatorios formados por 146 o 183 preguntas (según el caso) concernientes, prácticamente, a todos los ámbitos: cuestiones políticas, administrativas, naturales, económicas, sociales, culturales... Esta tesis doctoral es un estudio que extrae la información de todas las respuestas que se han localizado a día de hoy –estén o no publicadas– y analiza el contenido de las mismas. Se ha realizado desde una perspectiva global del conjunto del territorio catalán, pero con la aportación de informaciones precisas y concretas de ámbito local para contribuir a configurar la historia social y económica de la Cataluña de 1790.At the end of 18th century, Francisco de Zamora (traveller and bureaucrat of the Bourbon administration) sent out questionnaires to the towns and villages of Catalonia, consisting of 146 or 183 questions (depending on the case) concerning practically all areas and issues: political, administrative, natural, economic, social, cultural... This doctoral thesis extracts information from all the answers that have been found up to date –published or not– and analyses their content. It has been carried out from a global perspective of the whole of Catalan territory, but giving precise and specific information from the local areas in order to contribute to build up the social and economic history of Catalonia in 1790.Programa de Doctorat en Històri
An urban intervention to transform the school surroundings in Barcelona: A mixed-methods evaluation of “Let's Protect Schools” effects on road safety, street liveliness, and wellbeing
No full textThis study assesses the effects of the “Let's Protect Schools” initiative on road safety, street liveliness, and wellbeing in the surroundings of schools in Barcelona. The “Let's Protect Schools” initiative aims to build healthier and safer spaces to promote outdoor play and social interaction by implementing permanent changes on school surroundings (such as traffic-calm measures, greenery, and new urban furniture, etc.). We designed a convergent mixed-methods parallel study based on a quasiexperimental pre-post design with comparison group. The study analysed quantitative and qualitative data from systematic observations of school surroundings, intercept surveys to students and their families, and an online survey sent to school principals and parent's associations. Our results suggest that perceived road safety and wellbeing clearly improved. Dwell time, social interaction and space playability improved or did not worsen. Traffic-calm measures emerged as key facilitators of intervention enhancements
Massively parallel genetic perturbation suggests the energetic structure of an amyloid-β transition state
No full textAmyloid aggregates are pathological hallmarks of many human diseases, but how soluble proteins nucleate to form amyloids is poorly understood. Here, we use combinatorial mutagenesis, a kinetic selection assay, and machine learning to massively perturb the energetics of the nucleation reaction of amyloid-β (Aβ42), the protein that aggregates in Alzheimer's disease. In total, we measure the nucleation rates of >140,000 variants of Aβ42 to accurately quantify the changes in free energy of activation of the reaction for all possible amino acid substitutions in a protein and, in addition, to quantify >600 energetic interactions between mutations. Strong energetic couplings suggest that the Aβ42 nucleation reaction transition state is structured in a short C-terminal region, providing a structural model for the reaction that may initiate Alzheimer's disease. Using this approach it should be possible to reveal the energetic structures of additional amyloid transition states and, in combination with additional selection assays, protein transition states more generally.This work was funded by the La Caixa Research Foundation project “DeepAmyloids” (LCF/PR/HR21/52410004). Work in the lab of B.B. was also funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2021-127761OB-I00 and RYC2020-028861-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, “ERDF A way of making Europe” and “ESF Investing in your future”) and by the European Union (ERC Consolidator, Glam-MAP, 101125484). Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Work in the lab of B.L. was funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced (883742) grant, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (LCF/PR/HR21/52410004, EMBL Partnership, Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence), the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, the AXA Research Fund, Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, 2017 SGR 1322), the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya, and Wellcome (grant reference: 220540/Z/20/A, “Wellcome Sanger Institute Quinquennial Review 2021-2026”). M.S. was funded by a fellowship from Agencia de Gestio d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (2019FI_B 01311). A.J.F. was funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC2021-033375-I) financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the European Union (NextGenerationEU/PRTR)
Integration or Quality of Life? A Capabilities Approach to Migration Policy
No full textA mesura que la migració a Europa s’accelera, la UE defensa una «integració reeixida» per salvaguardar el benestar de les societats europees. Aquesta tesi té com a objectiu respondre a la pregunta normativa de per a què serveixen la recerca i les polítiques d’integració, i establir una alternativa que doni suport al benestar. Seguint un argument fonamentat contra el paradigma d’integració, presenta una demostració empírica de l’enfocament de capacitats per a l’avaluació de la qualitat de vida com una alternativa viable. Combinant entrevistes semiestructurades amb noves eines de recerca participativa, aquesta recerca involucra 20 «immigrants de segona generació» a Barcelona, considerada una ciutat ideal per a la integració d'immigrants. Els resultats revelen que els descendents migrants «ben integrats» poden tenir dèficits de capacitat. Aquesta tesi deriva empíricament una llista de 12 capacitats que juntes defineixen la qualitat de vida, inclosa la família, la integritat corporal i la no discriminació. Amb aquesta nova definició, els acadèmics i els responsables polítics poden canviar com es duu a terme la recerca en migració i promoure polítiques que fomentin el benestar per a tots els membres de les societats europees, independentment del context migratori.A medida que se acelera la migración hacia Europa, la UE aboga por una «integración exitosa» para salvaguardar el bienestar de las sociedades europeas. Esta tesis busca responder a la pregunta normativa sobre el propósito de la investigación y las políticas de integración, y establecer una alternativa que fomente el bienestar. Tras un argumento fundamentado contra el paradigma de la integración, presenta una demostración empírica del enfoque de capacidades para la evaluación de la calidad de vida como una alternativa viable. Combinando entrevistas semiestructuradas con novedosas herramientas de investigación participativa, esta investigación involucra a 20 «inmigrantes de segunda generación» en Barcelona, considerada una ciudad ideal para la integración de inmigrantes. Los hallazgos revelan que los descendientes de migrantes «bien integrados» pueden presentar déficits de capacidades. Esta tesis deriva empíricamente una lista de 12 capacidades que, en conjunto, definen la calidad de vida, incluyendo la familia, la integridad física y la no discriminación. Con esta nueva definición, académicos y legisladores pueden transformar la forma en que se realiza la investigación sobre migración y promover políticas que fomenten el bienestar de todos los miembros de las sociedades europeas, independientemente de su origen migratorio.As migration into Europe accelerates, the EU champions ‘successful integration’ to safeguard the wellbeing of European societies. This thesis aims to answer the normative question of what integration research and policies are for, and to establish an alternative that supports wellbeing. Following a grounded argument against the integration paradigm, it presents an empirical demonstration of the capabilities approach to quality-of-life assessment as a viable alternative. Combining semi-structured interviews with novel participatory research tools, this research engages 20 ‘second-generation immigrants’ in Barcelona, considered an ideal city for immigrant integration. The findings reveal that ‘well-integrated’ migrant descendants can have capability deficits. This thesis empirically derives a list of 12 capabilities that together define quality of life, including family, bodily integrity, and nondiscrimination. With this new definition, academics and policymakers can change how migration research is conducted and promote policies that foster wellbeing for all members of European societies, regardless of migration background.Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Doctorat en Ciències Polítiques i Social
Nonequilibrium brain dynamics elicited as the origin of perturbative complexity
No full textAssessing someone’s level of consciousness is a complex matter, and attempts have been made to aid clinicians in these assessments through metrics based on neuroimaging data. Many studies have empirically investigated measures related to the complexity elicited after the brain is stimulated to quantify the level of consciousness across different states. Here we hypothesized that the level of non-equilibrium dynamics of the unperturbed brain already contains the information needed to know how the system will react to an external stimulus. We created personalized wholebrain models fitted to resting state fMRI data recorded in participants in altered states of consciousness (e.g., deep sleep, disorders of consciousness) to infer the effective connections underlying their brain dynamics. We then measured the outof-equilibrium nature of the unperturbed brain by evaluating the level of asymmetry of the inferred connectivity, the time irreversibility in each model and compared this with the elicited complexity generated after in silico perturbations, using a simulated fMRI-based version of the Perturbational Complexity Index, a measure that has been shown to distinguish different levels of consciousness in in vivo settings. Crucially, we found that states of consciousness involving lower arousal and/or lower awareness had a lower level of asymmetry in their effective connectivities, a lower level of irreversibility in their simulated dynamics, and a lower complexity compared to control subjects. We show that the asymmetry in the underlying connections drives the nonequilibrium state of the system and in turn the differences in complexity as a response to the external stimuli.W.S. is an FI fellow with the support of AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya and Fondo Social Europeo (2022 FI_B 00152, https://agaur.gencat.cat/ca/inici). E.P. is an FPI fellow funded by the Spanish "Ministerio
de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades" (MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and "ESF investing in your future" under the grant PRE2020-0961 (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/, https://european-social-fund-plus.
ec.europa.eu/en). I.M. is funded by FLAGERA research funding organisation (project ModelDXConsciousness, https://www.flagera. eu/). G.D. and A.E. were supported by the Grant PID2022-136216NB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe,” ERDF, EU (https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funding/erdf_en). G.D. and Y.S.P. were supported by the project NEurological MEchanismS of Injury, and Sleep-like cellular dynamics (NEMESIS) (ref. 101071900) funded by the EU ERC Synergy Horizon Europe (https://erc.europa.eu/applygrant/synergy-grant). A.E. was also supported by the project eBRAIN-Health - Actionable Multilevel Health Data (id 101058516), funded by the EU Horizon Europe (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101058516). G.D. is also supported by AGAUR research support grant (2021 SGR 00917) funded by the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat of Catalunya (https://agaur.gencat.cat/ca/inici). M.L.K. is supported by the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing (funded by the Pettit and Carlsberg Foundations) and Center for Music in the Brain (funded by the Danish National Research Foundation, DNRF117, https://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/en/what-we-have-funded/cf20-0698/, https://dg.dk/en/). J.D.S. is supported by the EU ERA PerMed Joint Translational 2019 project (project PerBrain) and by the JTC-HBP project MODELDxConsciousness (https://erapermed.isciii.es/joint-transnational-call2019/, https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/collaborate-hbp/partnering-projects/modeldxconsciousness/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
A highly conserved neuronal microexon in DAAM1 controls actin dynamics, RHOA/ROCK signaling, and memory formation
No full textActin cytoskeleton dynamics is essential for proper nervous system development and function. A conserved set of neuronal-specific microexons influences multiple aspects of neurobiology; however, their roles in regulating the actin cytoskeleton are unknown. Here, we study a microexon in DAAM1, a formin-homology-2 (FH2) domain protein involved in actin reorganization. Microexon inclusion extends the linker region of the DAAM1 FH2 domain, altering actin polymerization. Genomic deletion of the microexon leads to neuritogenesis defects and increased calcium influx in differentiated neurons. Mice with this deletion exhibit postsynaptic defects, fewer immature dendritic spines, impaired long-term potentiation, and deficits in memory formation. These phenotypes are associated with increased RHOA/ROCK signaling, which regulates actin-cytoskeleton dynamics, and are partially rescued by treatment with a ROCK inhibitor. This study highlights the role of a conserved neuronal microexon in regulating actin dynamics and cognitive functioning.The research has been funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (ERCCoG-LS2-101002275 to M.I.), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-115040GB-I00 to M.I., PID2022−141900OB-I00 to M.D., PID2020- 114080GB-I00 to M.P.C., PID2023-1497670B-I00 to F.J.M. and PID2022-138245NB-I00 to E.H), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreements No 964342 to M.P.C., 721890 to P.P. and 848077 to A.Z.M., the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1R01NS137222-01 to M.D.) and AGAUR grants from Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa iConeixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya to M.I., M.D. and M.P.C.. CRG acknowledges support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa (CEX2020-001049-S, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), and the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA program. M.S.N. received an FPU fellowship (FPU19/04789) from Ministerio de Universidades. This research was in part supported by grants from the Simons Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research to B.J.B., who also holds the University of Toronto Banbury Chair in Medical Research and the Canada Research Chair in RNA Biology and Genomics
The Commodification of second-hand fashion as a sustainability trend on social media
No full textTreball de fi de màster Estudis Internacionals sobre Mitjans, Poder i DiversitatSupervisora: Maria CastellvíThis research explores the motivations behind second-hand fashion consumption and the role of social media in shaping sustainable practices among young adults in Greece. Using a mixed- methods approach combining an online survey and in-depth content analysis of two influencer accounts, the study investigates the relationship between consumer behaviour regarding sustainable fashion and the role of social media in making sustainability and Second-hand shopping a 'trend'. While sustainability is present in consumers’ discourses, price and style motivations often overshadow it. The study applies a critical theory lens to examine how digital platforms may be co-opting resistance to the capitalist fashion industry for profit. Findings suggest that although sustainable narratives are visible online, consumer practices often reflect the influence of capitalism in the online platforms rather than structural activism and public discourse